1 A. Background of the study
English is a tool to communicate among many countries as a global
language and also used to communicate with other people especiallay in
educational field. Mastering English is very important to gain success in facing
the global era. For those reasons, English is compulsory subject that has learnt by
the student. It is one of the subjects that decide whether the senior and junior high
school students can pass from their study in their own school or not.
English as a school subject is arranged in school curriculum. Indonesia has
changes more than five times since the proclamation of the country. In 2013, the
ministry came with a new concept of school curriculum, which is claimed to be a
curriculum emphasizing the affective domain of education. According to Agustien
(2014: 39) as a whole, the 2013 curriculum is still a competence-based curriculum
in that objectives are formulated in terms of the prescribed or target competence
or the outcomes of language learning. Despite the similarities, there are some
changes in this new curriculum, for instance; reducing of lesson time allocation of
English subject in junior and senior high school.
This 2013 curriculum is basically hoped can fully implemented in 2014
before the new president election. However, the new ministry came with his new
“... Pasal 2: (1) Satuan pendidikan dasar dan pendidikan menengah yang
melaksanakan Kurikulum 2013 selama 3 (tiga) semester tetap mengunakan
Kurikulum 2013. (2) Satuan pendidikan dasar dan pendidikan menengah yang
melaksanakan Kurikulum 2013 sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) merupakan
satuan pendidikan rintisan penerapan Kurikulum 2013...”
[“...Article 2 (1) elementary and secondary education who have conducted 2013
curriculum for three semesters keep using the 2013 curriculum. (2) Elementary
and secondary education unit that implement 2013 curriculum as referred to
paragraph (1) is an educational unit stub implementation of 2013 curriculum...”]
In line with the regulation above, Anies Baswedan (2014) says that there
are only 3% or 6000 of schools in Indonesia which implementing 2013
Curriculum and the rest 97% of Indonesian school are implementing 2006
curriculum or used to said as KTSP. Several schools which implementing 2013
curriculum is regarded as a pilot project while goverment rearranges and fixes the
curriculum.
Related to the implementation of 2013 Curriculum which is still held in
several schools, the English teachers in Vocational High School has many
challenges. Besides the similiarity curriculum with senior high school, they face
the limited time in teaching. In KTSP, there are 4 hours a week for English
subject. In 2013 Curriculum, it is reduced only 2 hours a week. Therefore, the
teachers must be smarter to manage teaching learning process. They also must be
able to manage the classroom. As Gebhard mentioned in Fauziati (2014: 197) says
that classroom management refers to the way teachers organize what goes on in
the classroom. Classroom management is one of the crucial factors that can make
For foreign learners, classroom is the main place where they are frequently
exposed to the target language. The kind of language used by the teacher for
instruction in the classroom is known as teacher talk (TT). For this term, Longman
Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines it as “that
variety of language sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of
teaching. In trying to communicate with learners, teachers often simplify their
speech, giving it many of the characteristics of foreigner talk and other simplified
styles of speech addressed to language learners” (Richards, 1992: 471)
Having studied the SLA for many years, Rod Ellis (1985) has formulated
his own view about teacher talk: “Teacher talk is special language that teachers
use when addressing L2 learners in the classroom. There is systematic
simplication of the formal properties of the teacher’s language....studies of teacher
talk can be divided into those that investigate the type of language they that
teachers use in language classroom and those that investigate in the type of
language they use in subject lessons.” He also commented “the language that
teachers address to L2 learner is treated as a register, with its own specific formal
and linguistics properties” (Ellis, 1985: 145).
In this research, it is the oral form of teacher talk instead of written form
that is under this investigation. It refers to the language that teachers use in
language classrooms rather than other settings. For first definitions, teacher talk in
English classrooms is regarded as one special variety of the English language, so
restriction of the physical setting, special participants as well as the goal of
teaching, teacher talk has its own special style.
Second definition that teacher talk is a special communicative activity. Its
goal is to communicate with students and develops students’ foreign language
proficiency. Teacher talk is used in class when teachers are conducting
instructions, cultivating their intellectual ability and managing classroom
activities (Qican, 1999: 23). Teachers adopt the target language to promote their
communcation with learners. In this way, learners practice the language by
responding to what their teacher says. Besides, teachers use the language to
encourage the communication between learners and themselves. Therefore we can
say teacher talk is a kond of communication-based or interaction-based.
Teacher talk in English classroom was preferred as the topic of this
research with following consideration: Teacher talk is very important to language
teaching. (Cook, 2000: 144). According to pedagogical theory, the language that
teachers use in classrooms determines to a larger degree whether a class will
succeed or not. Many scholars found teacher talk makes up around 70% of
classroom language (Cook, 2000; Chaudron, 1988). Teachers pass on knowledge
and skills, organize teaching activities and help students practice through teacher
talk. In English classroom, teachers’ language is not only the object of the course,
but also the medium to achieve the teaching objective. Both the organization of
the classroom and the goal of teaching are achieved through teacher talk.
In Indonesia, most people learn a foreign language in classrooms.
places the only sources. It functions not only as a major source of language
learning but also a tool by which a foreign language is taught. We have not learnt
enough about second language acquisition (SLA), but it is believed that the
language that teachers address to L2 learners will influences language learning,
although how and to what degree it influences language learning still remains
unclear. Since a better understanding of the use of teachers’ language can
undoubtedly help students improve their learning, and students can make a better
use of teacher talk to learn the target language, it is necessary to do some research
on teacher talk from both theoretical and practical perspective.
Considering the explanations above, it can be assumed that talk is
influential in students’ acquisition of learning activities as one aspect of classroom
management. Moreover, creating appropriately management in talk will arise
student-centered to implement 2013 curriculum and also important thing to deal.
In relevance with above statements, teacher talk in classroom implementing 2013
is claimed to meet the challenges described. These are the reasons why the
researcher proposed a research entitled “Teacher and Student Talk in English
Classroom Interaction of Vocational High School (A Naturalistic Study at SMK
Negeri 2 Salatiga, Central Java in the academic year of 2015/2016)”.
There are 20 schools in Salatiga implementing the 2013 curriculum since
2013. For senior high school level, it is only SMA N 1 Salatiga which is as a pilot
project and for vocational high schools there are SMK Negeri 1, SMK Negeri 2
and SMK Negeri 3 Salatiga. SMK Negeri 2 Salatiga is choosen because this
programmes than two other schools. There are 8 competences or programmes in
SMK Negeri 2 Salatiga, 5 programmes in SMK Negeri 1 Salatiga and SMK
Negeri 3 Salatiga. As the pilot project, SMK Negeri 2 Salatiga has many
competence teachers includes English teacher. However some of them still
confuse how to implement scientific approach in 2013 curriculum especially in
creating student centered learning. The researcher thought that teachers should
learn about how to find appropriate way in talks when they teach in class.
B. Problem Statement
Although studies of teacher talk are numerous in western cultural settings,
such studies of teacher talk in Indonesian cultural setting are extremely scarce. In
this research, the researcher wants to do a research to find out how are the teacher
and students talk in English classroom of vocational high school.
For such a purpose and providing some suggestions for Indonesian English
language teachers, based on the principles and facts we have discussed, the study
was designed to answer the following questions:
1. How is teacher and student talking time during the English classroom
interaction?
2. What are the types of teacher talk during English classroom interaction?
3. What are the roles of teacher talk in English classroom interaction related
to the 2013 curriculum implentation?
5. What are the preferences of students toward teacher talk in English
classroom interaction?
C. Objectives of the Research
In relevance with the problems that have been stated above, the objectives
of the research are:
1. To describe the teacher and student talking time during English classroom
interaction.
2. To describe types of teacher talk during English classroom interaction.
3. To identify the roles of teacher talk in English classroom related to the
implementation of 2013 curriculum.
4. To describe the types of student talk during English classroom interaction.
5. To identify the preferences of students toward teacher talk in English
classroom interaction.
D. Significances of the Research
In recent years, studies on the language that teachers use in language
classroom has gradually drawn people’s attention, the attention paid to it has
become gradually increasing both abroad and in Indonesia.
In the past years, most of the researchers on teacher talk have only devoted
to the analysis of various phenomena about teacher talk and the objective
description on teacher talk such as its characters and structure. However, few
acqusition (SLA). Teacher talk, as a vital aspect of classroom-based language
learning, is influenced by many factors. Students, though, count a significant part
of teaching and learning in classrooms, the students, to be more exact, the
students’ learning needs and language proficiency can not be neglected. However,
so far all the researcher on teacher talk have not taken the factor of students into
consideration. After a long time classroom observation, the writer found that quite
a few teacher talk in classrooms according to the teaching contents or
examinations, and completely neglect the students’ learning needs.
So the present study is conducted with a significance to investigate how
teacher talk in English classroom in Indonesia especially in vocational high school
affects foreign language learning from a different perspective—comparing the
students’ preferences towards the ideal teacher with the real teacher talk. The
specific purpose is to provide empirical evidence to the suggestion that the
appropriate use of teacher talk consciously in classrooms. In this way, teachers
can improve their language quality consciously so that English language teaching
and learning can be facilitated.
The researcher expects that the results of this study are beneficial for some
education parties wheither theoretical or practical benefit. Theoretical benefits are
1. The government
By knowing the merits, drawbacks, and its implementation in the field, it
is expected that the goverment can regularly recognize and revise the
regulation about lesson hour in vocational high school which is still less.
2. Other researchers.
The result of the study can be a reference of other researcher who conduct
similar studies. It is expected that next studies will discover gives
significant contribution for the education development in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the practical benefit is expected given to English teachers and
the students;
1. English teachers
The result of the study will help the teachers at SMK Negeri 2 Salatiga to
get an evaluation of their talk precentage, know their characteristics during
the classroom interaction in order to improve their teaching behaviour.
2. The students
It will help the students to know their talk precentage, characteristics of
their talk during the classroom interaction in order to make them
